HEALTH

‘Need to encourage vegetarianism’
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 2 — On the occasion of World Vegetarian Day today, the People for Animals (PFA) organisation has appealed to the public to contribute in conserving the nature and its resources by pledging for vegetarianism.

A release issued here today by the organisation pointed out that forests were being cut for making pastures for the animals produced solely as meat for human consumption.

The release said the millions of tonnes of foodgrains were consumed by the animals reared for meat, while millions die in countries like Ethiopia due to starvation.

The release pointed out that the water used in leather and meat processing units also led to depletion of potable water . To produce 1 kg of wheat 209 litres of water, were required, while 20,861 of litres of water was consumed for the production of 1kg of meat. According to a study, a meat eater consumes 16 times more water than a vegetarian.

People who consume meat were 10 times more prone to heart disease, 40 per cent more susceptible to cancer and there was increased risk of contracting diseases like stroke, obesity, appendicitis, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, food poisoning and impotency.

NGO task force on AIDS
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 2 — Two non-government organisations, Elim India International (EII) of Ludhiana and Indian Society for Youth Development (ISYD) of Chandigarh, have formed a joint task force for creating awareness about the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

The EII is headed by Dr Alex Zachaiah, former Principal of the Christian Medical College, and Dr Prema Zachariah. The ISYD is headed by Dr Gurdev Singh, former Director, NSS, Panjab University.

The task force plans to target the high risk groups on priority. These mostly include the truck drivers. For educating this class the task force will also coordinate with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and will set up information counters at octroi posts.

According to Dr Zachariah the task force in Ludhiana includes several people. He said 30 paan shop owners near Vardhaman Mills had been identified for educating people about AIDS. Since the area is inhabited mostly by the migrant labourers, who are also prone to HIV infection, this colony has been chosen for the awareness campaing.

Contraceptives have been distributed among these shopkeepers so that they are distributed among the target groups. The task force is likely to include truck unions of Jammu and Pathankot.

Paediatrics conference held at DMC
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 2 — The second annual conference of the Punjab branch of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, hosted by the department of Paediatrics, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, was inaugurated yesterday with an aim to update the knowledge of paediatricians of Punjab and to enable them to provide the best healthcare facilities to children.

Dr Daljit Singh, Professor and Head, Paediatrics Department and Secretary of the IAP branch, welcomed the delegates.

A book entitled, ‘Practical Paediatrics for General Practitioners’ written jointly by Mr M. Verma, Dr Daljit Singh, Dr J. Chhatwal, Dr J.S. Chug and Dr S.S. Bedi was also released on this occasion. The book is in a simple question-answer format, first of its kind which is hoped to be very useful for practitioners.

The conference was inaugurated by Mr Prem Nath Gupta, Secretary, managing society of the DMCH.

Dr Manorama Verma, outgoing President of the IAP, Punjab, while handing over the presidentship to Dr Raiazada highlighted the achievements of the branch. She pointed out that this year had been declared ‘Adolescent’s’ Year. The aim behind this was to motivate paediatricians to look after the health of adolescents, who faced the maximum physical and psychological problems.

A galaxy of experts delivered talks focusing the theme of paediatric diagnosis. Dr Surjeet Singh, Additional Professor of Paediatrics at the PGI, Chandigarh, presented a talk on “approach to a child with recurrent infections”. Dr Sudha Kataria presented a talk on the “pitfalls in the interpretation of the x-ray chest in children”, Dr Sumedha Sahni, Director Specialty, Ranbaxy Limited, Mumbai, spoke about “recent advances in the diagnosis of paediatrics infectious diseases”.

A special quiz of the practitioners was also organised, in which five teams comprising of paediatricians from different cities of Punjab like Dr T.S. Randhawa and Dr K. B. Sharda from Jalandhar; Dr Manpreet Singh Dhaliwal and Dr Ravi Bansal from Moga, Dr R. K. Gulati and Dr Harvinder Singh from Ludhiana; Dr K. K. Bajaj and Dr H.S. Narang from Bhatinda and Dr Mukesh Gupta and Dr Puneet Juneja (winning team) from Ludhiana, participated in the quiz.

SPORT

Alok, Daljit in snooker semis
From Our Sports Reporter

LUDHIANA, Oct 2 — Former national champion, Alok Kumar, along with Ashish Dhanda, Daljit Singh Pooni, and Sanjay Jain reached the semifinals of the Satluj Club Open Snooker Tournament held, today.

In the first quaterfinal match Sanjay Jain was down with two frames (33-55 and 24-71), but he regained skill and won the rest of the four frames (81-28, 63-51, 52-33 and 57-22).

In the second quaterfinal Alok Jain, gave a scintillating performance. He outclassed Rohit by winning all

the four frames ( 82-52,83-52, 75-39 and 101-43).

In the third quaterfinal Daljit Pooni who was participating for the first time in this snooker tournament gave an excellent performance and defeated Varun Kampania by winning four out of the total six frames ( 30-46, 67-44, 62-34, 70-24,21-62, 60-56).

In the fourth quaterfinal, Ashish Dhanda defeated Sheetal Verma by winning four out of the total five frames (55-51,83-36, 0-95, 69-40 and 63-41).

In other results, Shami Lakhani won the skittle competition. In the badminton event, Navneet Malhotra-Bhuvan Dhanda and Ravinder Verma-Gaurav Thapar reached the final in men’s double.

In the first semi-final, Navneet Malhotra-Bhuvan Dhanda defeated Manoj Verma-Keshav Dhanda by 15-17, 15-9 and 15-11.

In the second semi-final Ravinder Verma-Gaurav Thapar defeated Raman Agarwal-Sunil Dewan. The scores were 11-15, 15-9 and 17-14.

ADMINISTRATION

Market Committee Secretary suspended
From Our Correspondent

KHANNA, Oct 2 — The Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana, Mr S.K. Sandhu, ordered the suspension of the Secretary, Market Committee, Samrala, during his visit to the grain market of the district.

The Deputy Commissioner told the media that the Secretary of the Municipal Council, Samrala, Mr Karnail Singh, was found absent from his duty for the last two days, so he had recommended his suspension.

Earlier Mr Sandhu held a meeting of commission agents, farmers and sheller owners. A commission agent, Mr S.S.Sandhu, complained that the government agencies refused to purchase paddy on the plea that their quota was finished.

Mr Kamaljit Singh Gill, Chairman of the Khanna Cooperative Society, said that the sheller owners were purchasing paddy at reduced rates while they sold rice to the government on full rates. The Deputy Commissioner said that the government agencies had purchased 1.16 lakh tonne of paddy out of a total of 1.76 lakh tonnes sold in Ludhiana district till today.